The St. Louis Blues began another season of hockey with their first game of the 2025-26 season. At least there will be a box score that shows a game was played. That is one thing you can take away from this game.
The Blues faced the Minnesota Wild in what should have been a raucous arena, overflowing with electricity so thick you could cut it with a knife. Instead, it turned out to be a dud all around.
The first period was pretty even between the two teams. The shots finished 8-7 in favor of the Blues.
St. Louis had some early looks and even a flurry of activity here and there. Sustained offensive pressure would be something that was lacking throughout the game, however.
The Wild got on the board first, in the first. The little gnat known as Ryan Hartman got things going at 15:54. Logan Mailloux swatted at a puck at the blue line with his glove, but knocked it right to Minnesota. The ensuing pass play found Hartman in front of the net, and he slipped it through the legs of Jordan Binnington.
The Wild doubled their lead with an unbelievable deflection from Matt Boldy at 17:30. Even though it was 2-0 Minnesota at the break, you still felt it was there for the taking for the Blues.
They seemed to show that by dominating the first 12 minutes of the second period. St. Louis outshot the Wild 13-0 in those opening moments of the middle frame. The Blues also had two power plays in that time frame as well.
By now, you know the final score, so you know the Blues didn't score on the PP. Then, Brayden Schenn was assessed a hooking penalty at 12:19, and the Wild would score on their first shot of the period. It was a lucky play where a point shot got through, hit the post and the man in front was wide open for the tap-in to make it 3-0.
That goal sunk the Blues, both figuratively and in reality. There was very little push back after that.
Hartman got another goal late in the second period after getting away with a penalty right before he got the puck. The Wild made it 5-0 at 7:27 of the third period, but a large portion of the crowd had already gone home at that point.
It was a disappointing open to the season. Not just the score let people down, but the lack of any resistance to the Wild's game was not too fun to watch.
Con: Logan Mailloux
Rarely do I call individuals out unless it was pretty bad, but it was pretty bad. Mailloux did not have his best showing in his first official game in the Blue Note.
If the game went a different direction, you chalk that hand pass right to a Wild player early in the game up to just one of those things. It was too much of an omen, though.
Mailloux didn't have a truly awful game, but it wasn't great. In addition to some rookie miscues, his passing was quite bad.
He was almost like a rookie quarterback who didn't know how to look through the progressions. He got picked off several times and made some passes that made you wonder where he even intended to put it.
That trade between him and Bolduc is looking a bit lopsided after the first few days of the young season.
Con: Binnington
Unlike social media, I do not pin this game on Jordan Binnington. He didn't have a ton of help, the scoring was literally non-existent, and he had some bad bounces.
However, I'm big on body language when it comes to goalies. Binnington didn't seem to have that edge.
I actually think not facing a shot for over half a period in the second hurt him. I don't blame him on the first Hartman goal, but you'd like him to make the save there.
Yes, the bounce off the post right to Eriksson-Ek was lucky, but mentally it didn't do any favors for Binny to allow another goal on the first shot of the second period. Binnington is a big-game goalie, and this wasn't that big a game. Still, he was not a bright spot either.
Pro: Second line
The funny thing about this game was I didn't personally see any truly horrendous individual performances. But, as a team, almost every line kind of stunk in its own way.
Only the second line had any consistency. Dylan Holloway looked solid, Brayden Schenn was his normal self, and Jordan Kyrou had the puck on a string in the second period.
This line could have had two goals at least, if things had bounced differently. Unfortunately, they didn't.
Kyrou had a partial breakaway that didn't generate a shot because of a well-timed poke right as Kyrou was about to shoot. This trio also just missed the net on some great looks, too.
It stinks to come up empty-handed, but it was right there for them. They'll come up big the next time.
Con: The crowd
Maybe it's a Thursday night thing? I'm not sure, but for as much hype as the pregame festivities had and for as full as the building was, it didn't have that vibe.
This had the vibe of a Tuesday night game with a start of 8:30 instead of the season opener at a normal puck drop. The crowd was loud, but kind of in a token way - not in that "oh my God, hockey is finally back!" kind of way.
Granted, the team didn't give them anything to cheer for during the game, but it just didn't reach that fever pitch, even at the open.
Overview:
The world is not ending. It was one game.
I had a funny tweet shared with me that said the last time the Blues lost their season opener, they won the Stanley Cup. So, place your bets now and you'll get good odds. The Blues are going all the way.
The reality was that this was just a deflating performance and hopefully just one blip. The power play didn't score, but they looked good in spurts.
The net front presence wasn't right in front of the goalie, but there were guys near the net. That's just a small tweak in positioning.
As maligned as Justin Faulk is, he and Philip Broberg were the only defenders who didn't get scored on. There's positives and negatives to take out of this.
It always stinks to get shut out. All the Blues and we fans can do is move on to Calgary. If this same performance happens again, then there's reason to be alarmed.
The Blues could easily be 0-3 when they return home next Wednesday, but I don't think that happens. There are some kinds and wrinkles, for sure, but this is still a good team that will gel soon enough.